Method of preparing food



' To all whom it may concem:

I is that which is descri Harnor, jointly with ed condition by Patented July 28, 1925. I

nnwm nnaannve, or rrr'rssuaon,

I I I I PEFHSYLVLNIA, ASSIGNOB '1'O H. I, nnmz COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A. CORPORATION 01' man;

YANIA.

Ho Drawing.

Be it known that I, Enwm R. HARDING, residing at Pittsburgh, -in the county of Allegheny and .State of- Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Preparing Food, of whi improvements the following is a specification.

- My invention relates to improvements in the preparation of food products, and specifically of cereal food products.

In'the cooking of cereals, and this is notably true of barley, rice, and oats, a gummymass is pr need, which is objectionable'on several accounts: such a gummy mass, servedon the table, is unpleasant in the mouth. If the mass be dried or baked, a hard product results, which taken into the mouth becomes superficially slimy and unpleasant. Again, in the; production of flaked cereals, the gumming together. a luded to occurs in the initial cooking an results in the loss of identity of the individual kernels of grain; the mass when dried has to be broken'in'to fragments, preparatory to flaking, and these fragments approximating the original grains in. size, are not (as are the original kernels) uniform in size. Furthermore, drying and fragmenting are slow and ditlicult operations. My invention consists. in adding to cereals as an incident to cooking, cellulose in finely divided conditionl The presence of the 90- added cellulose insures the preservation of the identity of the individual kernels, and whether the cooked product he served immediately on the table or be subjected to further treatment-in preparation for service on the table, its'condition is improved. Adhesion between the kernels is diminished prevented,- and in antness of feel, in the mouth of the eater is prevented, and in the other, easy frag mentation into the original kernels is msured.

The cellulose which I referably employ in United States letters Patent No. 1,495,789, May. 27, 1924, on the application 30 William A.

myself and is substam, cellulose, derived in finely div1dchemical treatment of such corn cotton cottially pure v bleaourcesas ton linteraand wood so Application med January 8, 1825. Serial new.

the one case unpleaaper mrrnon or ranraamo soon,

prepared is insoluble and tasteless and soft. Its efi'ect on boiled cereal, eaten hot, as well as on other pre arations of bland cooked cereal, is primarily mec anical, preventing the formation of gummy or hard masses. It has no a preciable effect to change the flavor ofcook when used in the course of manufacture of prepared breakfast foods, it accomplishes the ends indicated, without appreciable modification in taste,

I am not, however, tice of my invention to cellulose so derived, and may employ cellulose derived from any source, subject tothis limitation only: in

ed cereals, and

limited in the pracorder to be ellicacious, to achieve my inyention, it must be substantially free of starch i or other substances which become gluey; or gelatinous'on cooking. Bran, therefore, as hitherto used in diluting cereal i that it contains, besides cellulose, consider.- ableestarch), will not do; ran is to be d used'in the practice of my invention, as a material richin cellulds'e, it must'be repared for. such use by the removal 0 its starch 'content. This may, of course, be

done, byprocessesknown to the art.

.The dition of cellulose to cereal-foods as herein described, not only accomplishes the ends immediately in viewtand' rdlng mentioned above, in that it afiords a food of lax 1ve\tendency. 1

I shall particularly in the radical application which have made 0 it, namely, in the preparation of flaked rice.

The rice employed may be of quality as is desired, brown or pol' bed. I measure cellulose in quantity amounting to about ten cent by weight of the quantity of rice to be prepared, I brixag suspension in water, ad rice to this sion, mix thoroughly and cook. I fo ow practice 0 preparing'the cereal for aking; that is to say,-I dry 1t mcompletely, andthen separate it into fragments. Separation occurs hefore and" during drying. This separation mto fragments may conveniently be v accomp within a cylindrical container rotat horizontal axis, with l 'tudinal ribs or w thiscylin themaas-otcoo-.

plained in the Hamor and Ha one I set forth above; it is valuable therapeutically, ex

describe my invention the cellulose into i too rial dries slowly, and when dry has to be gr broken a art by crushing. During tempering the ernels or granules again stick together, and have to be worked apart before eeding'to the rolls for flaking. A great deal of hand manipulation or s ial machinery is required to getthe' bzlches in she for flaking, and it would be expensive an ractically impomible to dry and tem-' per t e-material in lar batches on commercial scale. With ce lulose present, the cooked material if ithas the right moisture content, can be broken up easil and the individual kernels stay separat during dry:

in and tem Without cellulose rice flai'es, after be zcoming thoroughly moistened mmy, and have a in the mouth, become slightly slimytaste which is not noticeable when the product contains. cellulose.

, Incidentall to the operation described, and specifica ly in the initial cooking step, I- may add seasonin flavoring material, and other nutritive su ances', such, for example, as'vitamins'and mineral salt concentrates; but these additions have no necessary or intrinsic relation to the ractice of my invention, which may be ac 'eved without them. i

I have described the "invention in its application to the production of had rice';

similarly may beapplied, an with like effect, in the preparation of other plained, its use in the cooking of grain,

, the initial step in producing a flaked prod-- none-gives a cooked roduct. which without further treatment is a food ready to be eaten and free of umminess. Furthermore, if the cooked rice be dried or baked to hardness, the presence of the cellulose inedient insures ready crumbling in the mouth, instead of a resisting lump of superficially slimy substance.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method herein described of preparing a flaked cereal which consists in cooking with the grain finely'divided cellulose, then separatin the mass into the original kernels and the kernels. v

2. The methodherein described of preparing a food product which consists in cooking grain in associationl'with finely divided starchless cellulose. .j

3. The method herein described of preparing a food product which consists in.

mixing together rice and finely divided cellulose and cooking'the mixture.

- -4. The method'herein described of pr e-- paring a food product which consists in cooking rice'in association with a finely divided edible material rich in cellulose and substantially free from substances which on cooking come adhesive. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

EDWIN R. HARDING.

ll'itnesses:

Pram A. Encusrr.

rying itand flaking 

